Family Secrets Read online

  FAMILY SECRETS

  Written by

  Kate William

  Created by

  FRANCINE PASCAL

  Copyright © 2015, Francine Pascal

  FAMILY SECRETS

  As Kelly leaned over the rail, waiting for Kirk to return, she remembered every minute she had spent with him that night. The more she thought about him, the more she liked him; he was even honest enough to admit he wanted to talk to an old friend without making a big deal about it. She smiled as she thought about him. Yes, he was special, she decided happily.

  After several minutes, though, Kelly began to feel a twinge of impatience. She craned her neck to see if she could see him down the beach. She drummed her fingers on the railing. Catching up with an old friend was fine, but Kelly wondered what was taking him so long.

  She finally sat down in a deck chair and crossed her legs restlessly. Just then, Kirk hurried toward her.

  "Sorry," he said quickly. "My friend started in with this real hard luck story, and I couldn't get back here as quickly as I wanted to. All I kept thinking was how much I wished it were you I was talking to instead of her."

  Kelly's irritation vanished instantly as she gazed into his intense blue eyes. "That's OK," she replied, "I understand."

  "I knew you would." He held out his hand and gave her one of his irresistible, sexy smiles. "Now how about another dance?" he suggested, pulling her to her feet.

  As though hypnotized, Kelly nodded and allowed him to lead her back to the dance floor.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  One

  "Liz! Wake up!"

  Elizabeth Wakefield rolled over and grumbled sleepily. She was still lingering over an especially good dream. She and her boyfriend, Jeffrey French, were walking hand in hand along the beach, the foamy surf washing up over their ankles as the sun dropped in a golden glow into the rolling blue Pacific—

  Without warning, her pillow was yanked out from under her and thumped on her head.

  "Jessica!" she cried, pushing herself up and grabbing the pillow with one hand. "Are you trying to give me a concussion?" As Elizabeth opened her eyes and scrambled to a sitting position in her bed, her twin sister crossed to the window and snapped up the shade. A blaze of sunshine poured into the cozy room.

  "Nope," Jessica replied airily as she opened the window. Her blue-green eyes twinkled as she added, "I was sick of hearing you snore, that's all."

  Elizabeth giggled and stretched her arms above her head. "Mmm. It looks like it's going to be a nice—Jessica, I just remembered!" Her eyes wide, she sat up straight.

  Jessica dropped down on the end of Elizabeth's bed. "That's right, big sister. Today's the day. Kelly's coming."

  Elizabeth drew her knees up to her chin and hugged her arms around her legs. One of their cousins, Kelly Bates, was arriving that afternoon from Tucson to stay with them for a while. As an only child, Kelly was having a rough time dealing with the fact that her mother was planning on remarrying a doctor with two children of his own. And on top of that, she had some other serious conflicts with her mother. Kelly was going to stay with the Wakefields until the tensions eased up a bit between her and her mother.

  "I wonder if she still looks like us," Elizabeth mused. "Think so?"

  Jessica tossed her hair over her shoulders. "I hope not. Two of us is too much for most people already!"

  "That's true," Elizabeth agreed with a giggle.

  Elizabeth and Jessica were identical twins. From their golden hair, dimpled left cheeks, and dazzling smiles to their five-foot-six-inch figures and healthy California tans, the sixteen-year-old Wakefield twins were mirror images of each other.

  But the similarities stopped when it came to their personalities. Elizabeth was steady, thoughtful, and practical. She liked books and heart-to-heart talks with her best friend, Enid Rollins, and her steady boyfriend, Jeffrey French. Writing a weekly column for the Sweet Valley High Oracle was her way of reaching for her dream—to be an author. Most of her experiences ended up in her personal journal, and her most adventurous experiences usually involved her twin.

  That was because Jessica was daring, headstrong, and often more than a little reckless. Jessica liked to act first, then think—if she thought at all! Often Elizabeth ended up trying to restore order after Hurricane Jessica had swept through. As the older twin by four minutes, Elizabeth usually felt like the "big sister" in more ways than one.

  "Two of us is definitely enough," Elizabeth continued with a wry grin. "Kelly did look a lot like us when we were little, though, that's for sure."

  "Well, I can't wait to see her." Jessica flopped over onto her back on the bed and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Then she turned her head and gave Elizabeth a stern look. "Aren't you ever going to get up?" she demanded impatiently.

  "OK! OK!" Chuckling, Elizabeth pushed back the covers and got out of bed. "This is obviously one Saturday morning I don't get to sleep late."

  When the twins walked into the sunny, Spanish-tiled kitchen a few minutes later, their parents were already at the table with the newspaper and steaming mugs of coffee.

  "Morning, girls," Alice Wakefield said with a happy smile. Her blue eyes sparkled as she added, "Everything all set for Kelly?" Kelly's mother was one of Mrs. Wakefield's sisters, and the twins knew their mother was thrilled at having her niece for an extended visit.

  Jessica nodded through a long sip of fresh orange juice. "Yup. My room's cleaner than it's been in about five years."

  "Will wonders never cease," Elizabeth commented dryly as she poured herself some cereal. Jessica's room, known in the family as "The Hershey Bar" since the time Jessica had painted the walls dark brown, usually looked like a disaster area. But the girls had decided that Kelly would share Jessica's room for the first half of her stay, then move in with Elizabeth. So Jessica had been tidying up for several days.

  Tall, dark-haired Ned Wakefield lowered his section of the paper and gave Jessica a look of surprise. "I think I should get the camera and take a picture—as evidence of a completely new phenomenon."

  "Hardy-har-har," Jessica retorted sarcastically. Then she peered up at her father and grinned. "Is Steve going with us to the airport?"

  "He can't make it," Mr. Wakefield replied, blowing gently on his coffee. "He has to go up to Puget Sound for a research project. But he'll try to come as soon as he can." The twins' older brother, Steven, was a freshman at a state university, but he often managed to get home to visit.

  Elizabeth sat down at the table and propped her chin up on her hands. "It's been so long since we've seen Kelly. Ever since Aunt Laura left Uncle Greg and moved to Tucson." She frowned. "How long ago was it—eight years?"

  "Mmm," Mrs. Wakefield agreed.

  "You know," Jessica said, peeling a banana, "I never did understand why she left Sweet Valley like that."

  Mrs. Wakefield's mouth tightened. "Your Aunt Laura had every reason to leave Greg," she said tersely.

  Across the table Elizabeth and Jessica exchanged a meaningful look. They had heard enough about their uncle to know he wasn't exactly the ideal husband. He had always been handsome and notoriously charming. But he had also cheated on his wife and then sworn never to do it again—again and again. He had a terrible temper and always apologized extravagantly for losing it. Their aunt had put up with a lot. But finally one night she had packed up eight-year-old Kelly, taken a plane for Tuscon, and later filed for divorce. No one ever talked about the incident, but Elizabeth suspected that something terrible must have happened.

  "But, girls," Mrs. Wakefield continued as she looked at each of them in turn, her blue eyes clouded with worry, "Aunt Laura has made it a policy not to prejudice Kelly against her father. She doesn't believe in telling Kelly any of the bad memories she has, because she thinks Kelly should have good feelings about him. And she made me promise that we would respect that." She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was obviously unhappy about making that promise. "So as long as Kelly is here, no negative comments about her father. All right?"

  "Sure, Mom," Elizabeth said solemnly. Jessica nodded.

  For a moment Mrs. Wakefield stared moodily into her coffee cup. Then she managed a bright smile. "OK, who wants eggs?"

  Kelly Bates pressed her forehead against the small square window, straining for her first look at Southern California in eight years. In just a few minutes she would finally be home. Tucson had never felt right to her, and she blamed her mother for making them stay there. But things were going to change, Kelly vowed silently.

  Suddenly her eyes filled with tears, and she blinked them back with impatience. As the plane descended swiftly, Kelly sat back and gripped the armrests, bracing herself.

  "Is this your first flight?" the woman next to her asked with a kind smile.

  Kelly laughed and shook her head. "No. I'm just so excited about seeing my cousins, that's all. I haven't seen them in years."

  The plane bumped gently onto the ground, and the engines roared as the pilot slowed down the plane. In moments they were taxiing toward the terminal building. Her heart pounding, Kelly began gathering her things together. She
couldn't wait to see everyone: Aunt Alice, Uncle Ned, the twins, and Steven.

  As soon as the Fasten-Seat-Belt sign blinked off, she edged out into the aisle. The line of passengers shuffled toward the front of the plane and into the portable corridor attached to the main terminal. Once inside the terminal, she hurried to the area behind the security check, where people waited for arriving planes.

  Kelly could feel the huge grin on her face as she walked toward the spot where a crowd had gathered. Suddenly she spotted the twins, and the next moment she felt herself enveloped in a hug.

  "Kelly!" Elizabeth and Jessica shrieked simultaneously.

  "Hi," she gasped, hugging back instinctively. "Hi!"

  Elizabeth and Jessica stepped back for a moment, and Kelly was immediately hugged again by her Aunt Alice. "Kelly. It's so good to have you here, sweetheart."

  When she was able to catch her breath, Kelly took a good look at the Wakefields. Everyone looked just as she remembered, only older. She turned to the twins. "I know I can tell you apart," she said eagerly. They grinned back at her with excitement. "You're Liz, and you're Jess."

  "No, wrong way." Elizabeth laughed. She sent Jessica a lopsided grin. "Jessica is the one without a wristwatch. That's the acid test. She never cares what time it is."

  "But it won't take long to figure out which of us is which," Jessica assured her promptly. "After all, I'm the prettier one," she joked. "Don't worry about it."

  Kelly grinned. She took a deep breath and looked from the twins to her aunt and uncle. "Well, here I am."

  Ned Wakefield chuckled. "You sure are. Why don't you give me your baggage claim stubs, and you all can take a minute to get reacquainted."

  With a grateful nod Kelly handed over her claim checks. She could already tell that her uncle must be a perfect father—just as she knew her own father would have been if her mother had only given him half a chance. Ned Wakefield gave her a wink and strode toward the baggage claim area.

  "We can't wait for everyone to meet you!" Jessica exclaimed, taking Kelly by the arm.

  Elizabeth took Kelly's other arm and grinned. "And they're really going to be surprised, too. You still do look a lot like us."

  "There is a very strong family resemblance," Mrs. Wakefield commented.

  Kelly bit her lower lip as she looked from the twins to her aunt and back again. "I can't believe I'm here," she said.

  Elizabeth met her eyes with a soft smile and a look of complete understanding that made Kelly feel good. When they were children, she had shared more interests with Elizabeth than with Jessica. She and Elizabeth had both loved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and they used to act out the Mad Hatter's tea party and the crazy croquet game. And she knew, from letters, that Elizabeth wrote for the school newspaper and composed poetry, too, which Kelly had been doing for the last two years.

  "Hey, here's Dad," Jessica announced. "That was fast."

  When Mr. Wakefield joined them, he set Kelly's two big suitcases down with a gasp. "I can see you inherited the same wardrobe genes Jessica got," he teased. "Have you got bricks in here or something?"

  "I guess I went kind of overboard," Kelly admitted, smiling. "But I wasn't sure what to bring."

  "Don't worry—our clothes are your clothes," Elizabeth said with a wink. "My clothes are already Jessica's clothes anyway. At least they're mostly in her room."

  "That's not true, and you know it," Jessica said in a mock injured tone. She gave the group an impatient look. "Well? Let's get out of here!"

  "Yes, ma'am," Mr. Wakefield replied with a salute. He added to Kelly behind one hand, "She's so bossy, we're all terrified of her."

  Giggling, Kelly followed along as they trooped out to the parking lot and piled into the Wakefields' car. Soon they were driving toward Sweet Valley. On both sides of Kelly, Elizabeth and Jessica kept up a constant stream of chatter.

  "You'll have to officially register at school," Elizabeth told her. "But Mr. Cooper, the principal, already knows you'll be staying for a couple of months, and he'll probably give you the official welcome-to-Sweet-Valley-High speech. It's pretty boring, but his intentions are good."

  "His intentions are boring," Jessica corrected. "But as the real welcome to Sweet Valley, we have a much better surprise for you," she went on, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

  Kelly felt her own eyes widen with anticipation. "What?" She looked from Jessica to Elizabeth and back again.

  Putting one hand on Kelly's arm, Elizabeth explained. "Jessica always has to make such a drama out of everything. It's just that there's a friend of ours we think you'd really like to meet."

  "A boy," Jessica added. Kelly tried to protest, but Jessica raised her hand to stop her. "His name is Nicholas Morrow, and he's the most gorgeous hunk in town. He's dying to meet you. . . ."

  Dazed, Kelly stared at her cousin as she rattled on at breakneck speed.

  "He's rich, handsome, smart—you name it. He's taking a year off before he goes to college, is working in his father's computer company, and he drives a Jeep—he's kind of the rugged individualist type—"

  "Jessica!" Alice Wakefield interrupted from the front seat. "I think poor Kelly is getting dizzy. Why don't you let her find out a few things about Nicholas on her own."

  Kelly shook her head slowly. "He sounds pretty—nice," she said in an awed voice. She turned to look at Elizabeth. "What's the catch? Doesn't he have a girlfriend?"

  "No catch," Elizabeth said with a smile. Her eyes grew serious as she added, "The only thing is, his sister died a little while ago."

  Kelly gasped with horror. "What happened?"

  A quiver of emotion passed across Elizabeth's face. "Regina got in with a bad crowd when she was feeling upset about something. She went to the wrong kind of party. . . ." Elizabeth's voice faded out, and she turned to look out the window for a moment.

  Jessica cleared her throat. "She tried some cocaine, and it did something weird to her heart. She went into a coma and died."

  Kelly shook her head, her throat dry. "I don't think I should—"

  "No, it's OK," Elizabeth interrupted, a soft smile on her face. "Nicholas wants to meet you. He really does."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes. Positive. And, look! We're home."

  Surprised, Kelly turned to look through Jessica's window. They had stopped in front of a split-level ranch house. A golden labrador retriever was standing on the front steps, wagging his tail so hard that his whole body swayed from side to side.

  "Who's that?" Kelly asked, laughing.

  "And what's he doing outside when no one's home?" Mr. Wakefield asked.

  Jessica looked sheepish for a moment. "I guess I forgot to put him in the house." Then she brightened. "But doesn't Prince Albert make a great welcoming committee?" Before her father could comment, Jessica was out of the car.

  Scrambling out after Jessica, Kelly stood looking up at the house that would be her home for the next two months. Her aunt climbed out of the car and stood beside her, putting one arm across her shoulders.

  "Welcome home, Kelly," Mrs. Wakefield said with a loving squeeze. "Welcome to Sweet Valley."

  Two

  "Here, wear this," Jessica suggested. She pulled her favorite denim miniskirt out of a drawer and handed it to Kelly. It was Kelly's first day at Sweet Valley High, and Jessica wanted her cousin to look her best.

  Kelly shook her head. "No, I don't think so, Jessica."

  "But why not?"

  "Well—" Kelly looked hesitant, then broke into a huge grin, "I've got one just like it myself." She went over to the extra chest Mr. Wakefield had put in the room.

  Jessica hopped onto her bed and crossed her legs. She watched as her cousin pulled out a skirt almost identical to her own, and then got an inspiration. "I know—we'll all dress exactly the same, like Liz and I used to in fifth grade. It'll be hysterical."

  Her eyes twinkling, Kelly nodded and stepped into her skirt. "I've got a great pink shirt," she added as she turned back to the chest. "It's like the one you were wearing on Saturday."

  "This is a riot." Jessica laughed as she wriggled her skirt over her head, then pulled on a purple T-shirt. "Hey, Liz!"

  Elizabeth's head appeared in the doorway of the bathroom that connected the twins' rooms. "You called?" she replied.